Trolley.



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S. M. BALZER. TROLLEY.

APPLICATION FILED. 001'. 2a, 1907.

Patented Oct. 17, 1911.

-%/QJ J {41 J 46 K 5 w mmnn. i:! 5 g plane more or less substantiallyparallel STEPHEN M. BALZER, OF ANDOVER, NEW JERSEY.

V TROLLEY.

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To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, STEPHEN M. BALZER, a citizen of the United States,and resident of Andover, in the county of Sussex and State of NewJersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Trolleys,of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to trolleys or wheels adapted to travel alongconductors, such as trolleys used on electric railway cars and the like,and the invention has for its object to provide improved means forcausing the trolley to follow the conductor in such man nor as to reducethe liability of the trolley jumping from the conductor, and to morereadily follow curves in the conductor and the switches.

In carrying out my invention I provide a support or shaft adapted to beattached to a trolley pole and upon said support a bearing is mounted insuch manner that the same may have lateral or swinging motion in a withrespect to the plane of the conductor, as upon a substantially verticalor upright axis, and a trolley mounted upon said bear ing, whereby thetrolley may have pivotal movement with respect to the conductor againstwhich it rides independent of various movements of the trolley pole.

My invention also comprises novel details of improvement that will bemore fully hereinafter set forth and then pointed out in the claims. 7

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming part hereof,wherein,

Figure 1 is a side view of a trolley and trolley pole equipped with myimprovements; Fig. 2 is a plan view thereof; Fig. 3 is a section on theline 3, 3, in Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a section on the line 4:, 4, in Fig. 1;Fig. 5 is a detail of the trolley support; Fig. 6 is a section on theline 6, 6, in Fig. 5, looking in the direction of the arrows; Fig. 7 isa detail of the trolley bearing; Fig. 8 is a plan view thereof; Fig. 9is an end view of the trolley bearing, looking from the right in Fig. 8,and Fig. 10 is a similar view, the detachable cam being removed.

Similar numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts in theseveral views.

In the drawings the numeral 1 indicates a portion of a trolley pole, andat 2 is a fork at the outer end thereof, which may be of suitable orusual construction.

At 3 is a support or shaft carried by fork Specification of LettersPatent.

Application filed October 28, 1907.

Patented Got. 17, 1911.

Serial No. 399,491.

2 and shown provided with a flattened portion 3 held in a correspondingopening in one of the arms of fork 2 to keep support 3 from rotating,the head 3 hearing against said fork, the opposite end 3 of said support being shown tubular to pass through a suitable opening in theadjacent arm of fork 2, a cotter-pin 4 or other suitable fasteningdevice retaining support 3 in position. Support 3 is enlarged at itscentral portion 3 and is shown generally of substantially fiat form, andits edges at 3 on opposite sides converge outwardly, as shown inFigs.land 5.

At 5 is a bearing whose bore 5 receives support 3 whereby said bearingmay swing or turn on a substantially vertical axis around the enlargedpart 3 of support 3, the converging edges 3 of said support permittingsuch movement of the bearing, see Fig. 4, while the relatively flat bore5 of said hearing is kept from rotating upon support 3. A trolley orgrooved wheel 6, of suitable or usual construction, is journaled uponthe cylinder surface 5 of bearing 5, and said hearing at one end has ashoulder 5 against which one side of the trolley bears, and said bearingalso has a detachable cam or stop 5 which fits upon the reduced orprojecting portion 5 of the bearing and keeps the trolley in place uponthe conductor. A key 5 on the bearing receiving a groove 5 on stop 5keeps said stop from rotating on the part 5 Stop 5 is detachable fromthe bearing to permit the trolley to be mounted upon the hearing. Theouter or end surfaces of the bearing 5 are curved or made cam shaped at5 and the outer surface of said stop 5 is similarly shaped at 5 saidcurves being shown described around the axis a of bearing 5, and saidcurved surfaces are adapted to fit against the inner walls of fork 2,whereby bearing 5 is retained within the fork to have lateral swingingor pivotal movement substantially around axis a to permit the trolley toswing upon such axis, while the curved surfaces 5, 5, of the bearingretain the latter and the trolley in proper operative position withrelation to the electric conductor against which the trolley runs.

With a trolley pole equipped with my im-' around a curve, or passes aswitch, the trolley is free to turn or swing around the axis a becausethe bearing 5 may swing upon said axis to a limited extent upon support3, and as the trolley travels in one direction the wall of the bore ofbearing 5 bears against one corner of the enlarged part 3 permitting thetrolley to have an angular movement in one direction or the other alongsupport 3, and when the trolley travels in the reverse direction theopposite wall of its bearing 5 may bear against the opposite corner ofsupport 3 permitting the trolley to have an angular movement in eitherdirection, thereby enabling the trolley to more accurately follow theconductor than if the trolley were limited in its swinging movements toa positive vertical axis or relatively so, and thereby the trolley willmore readily follow inequalities in the conductor against which ittravels, and the liability of the trolley jumping from the conductor isreduced.

The trolley may be readily detached from the pole and replaced byremoving support 3, then detaching bearing 5 from the trolley, replacingthe bearing and its step 5 in a new trolley, and inserting support3through the fork and the bearing. The main wear of the trolley comesupon bearing 5 which may be hardened and thus continued in use as thetrolleys or wheels wear out.

Changes may be made in the details of construction shown and describedwithout departing from the spirit of my invention.

Having now described my invention what I claim is:

1. The combination of a trolley, with a bearing rotatively supportingthe trolley, and a support for the bearing having an intermediateenlarged portion of less depth than width receiving the bearing andhaving reduced portions extending in converging straight lines onopposite sides of the enlarged portion to permit the bearing to swing inangular relation to its support.

2. The combination of a trolley, with a bearing having a relatively flatstraight bore, and a support receiving said bearing and havingrelatively fiat opposite sides, said support having an enlargedintermedi ate portion wider than its thickness and having reducedportions converging outwardly, on straight lines, on opposite sidesthereof to permit the bearing to swing on a transverse axis.

3. The combination of a trolley, with a bearing on which the trolleyrotates and having curved end portions, and shoulders near oppositeends, a support for the hearing, and a fork carrying said supportadapted to co-act with said curved portions of the bearing, said bearingbeing fitted upon said support to swing on a transverse axis and limitedin endwise movement by the fork.

4E. The combination of a trolley pole pro- -vided with a fork, a supportcarried by said fork and having an enlarged intermediate portion, andsides converging outwardly in opposite directions, a bearing having abore receiving said enlarged portion of the support, whereby the bearingmay swing bodily on a transverse axis on said support, and means to keepthe bearing from rotating on the support, said bearing having means onits ends to permit it to swing and retain its position between the armsof the fork.

Signed at the borough of Andover in the county of Sussex and State ofNew Jersey this twenty-third day of September, A. D. 1907.

STEPHEN M. BALZER.

Witnesses:

SAMUEL S. WILLS, CHARLES T. STAoKHoUsE.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

